Tank Tracks to Rangoon - the story of British armour in Burma, Bryan Perrett

Tank Tracks to Rangoon - the story of British armour in Burma, Bryan Perrett

This book looks at the role of British armour during the entire Burma campaign, from the long retreat after the Japanese invasion to the eventual victorious march on Rangoon. This covers a wide range of styles of fighting. We start with the longest retreat in British history, a period when the Japanese were fair more adept at fighting in the jungle, and often when only the presence of a handful of Allied tanks allowed the British to push past Japanese roadblocks. We then move on to the early and rather poorly organised early offensives (in particular in the Arakan). This is followed by the hard-fought but successful defensive battles at Imphal and Kohima, before British were finally able to go onto the offensive. Even here we have two types of fighting - first the desperate battles against fierce resistance that broke the Japanese position in the heart of Burma, and then the rapid march south towards Rangoon, racing against the start of the monsoon.

For most of this long campaign the Allies had relatively few tanks, so the author is able to produce very detailed accounts of key battles, often focusing on individual tanks. There is an interesting mix of British and Indian regiments and crews, reflecting the multinational nature of the army in Burma.

The terrain is one of the key characters here, with the tank crews having to cope with swamps, jungle and steep sided mountain ridges. One of the outstanding features of the Allied effort here was the work that went into getting tanks into position, with some being dragged up to ridgelines to take on dug in Japanese positions.

There is some interesting material on the contrast between Allied and Japanese tanks and tank tactics, with the Japanese emerging rather badly on both counts. Not only were most of their tanks thinly armoured and under-armed, they were used with little imagination, and on several occasions Japanese tank formations suffered very heavy losses because of it.

The tone perhaps comes across as a little old fashioned now, with lots of mention of the 'Japs', and certain lack of historical neutrality, but the book was originally written in 1978 and with plenty of material from official reports and early memoirs, and reflects that atmosphere.

Overall this is a valuable examination of the crucial role armour played in the long Burmese campaign, and the impressive way in which the British and Allied tanks and tankers performed their difficult duties.

Chapters
1 - Briefing
2 - The Armies which Passed in the Night
3 - A Long Road to a Barren Hillside
4 - 'Not Fit to Fight In'
5 - U-Go: Overture and Beginners
6 - U-Go: The Siege
7 - U-Go: Relief and Pursuit
8 - Firm Base for a Deadly Thrust
9 - The Master Stroke
10 - The Battle of the Irrawaddy Bend
11 - The End in Arakan
12 - Two Roads to Rangoon

Appendices
A - Some Notes on the Imperial Japanese Armoured Corps
B - Brief Technical Data of Allied Tanks which fought in Burma
C - Table of Approximately Equivalent Ranks, British and Indian Cavalry

Author: Bryan Perrett
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 256
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2014 edition of 1978 original


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